Usually, I go to see Brian in August, but this year I decided to try visiting in the spring thinking I would avoid all the tourists. Wrong! They had people flocking to town for a Mariners/Padres game, a Roots of Recovery convention, Alaskan cruises, and the opening of Phantom of the Opera.
Two things I noticed about Seattle the minute I got off the plane - the humidity and the foliage... everything is so lush and green. This little red car was practically encased in leaves. The owner probably has to get out the weed-wacker several times a year so he can get the car in the driveway.
The other thing about Seattle are the hills. Everyone thinks it's really steep in Denver, but they don't have anything like the steep sidewalks in downtown Seattle. When you have to put little ridges in the pavement to keep people from catapulting down the hill, that's really steep.
The first day, I took the early bus out to Redmond so I could stop at River Trail Roasters to do some sketching. The special that day was a Dirty Chai - spiced tea with 2 shots of espresso. That totally cured any residual jet lag! Then I walked along the Sammamish River Trail to Brian's house. All the trees and flowers are blooming in Seattle right now. If it wouldn't have been a little misty out, I would have done my sketch along the trail.
Seattle is an incredibly bike-friendly town. Even though it rains a lot, bikers just throw on a raincoat and head off. When I was on the bus, I noticed the bike lanes are separated from traffic with double white lines and little poles set into the pavement. The scary thing though is that half the poles were either missing or lying flat on the ground. It sounds like my neighborhood where drivers go down the road with the left wheel in the driving lane and the right wheel in the bike lane. Denver doesn't bother putting up poles.
Brian and I spent the day playing some new board games he picked up at his Las Vegas gaming convention. I even managed to beat him once. Then we took the new light rail down to Capitol Hill for our annual Mexican dinner at Fogon's. Luckily, Redmond is the first stop on the new line, because by the time we got downtown, the train was packed - both the seats and aisles. We had to wrestle our way to get out the door. I'm glad the train is so popular, especially since it just opened last month; but they need to run it more frequently, at least during rush hour.
The next day, I hit the ground running. I'd heard about a troll statue under a bridge in the Fremont neighborhood. So, after consulting Google Maps, I hopped on a bus to find it. I was kind of shocked at how huge and menacing it looked all made out of concrete and with only one eye - not warm and fuzzy like the wooden troll in Breckenridge. I'm not sure I'd like living next door to this statue even if he is supposed to be good luck. But the sign said you could make a wish. If it was a good wish, you were supposed to turn to the right. If it was a bad wish (in other words, you wanted something bad to stop happening), then you were supposed to turn to the left. I made a good wish.
My next stop on this little adventure was the Gas Works Park. I'd heard about this place from some of my Seattle Urban Sketcher friends. Well it looks exactly as it sounds - an old gas factory that they've turned into a "scenic sculpture" for a local park.
This park actually has incredible views, probably because the gas factory was originally built on Lake Union so they could use the water for transportation and waste dumping. BTW, that bridge in the background is the one the troll is sitting under.
On the way back to the bus, I stumbled on the Burke-Gilman Trail. I've always wanted to rent a bike in Redmond and bike downtown along this trail (it's very long). It would have to be an eBike though, because I wouldn't be able to keep up with the commuters.
On my last day, I got up early to check out Pike Place Market before it got crowded. I picked up a Mystery Mocha at Ghost Alley Espresso and then walked through the market where vendors were setting up. There are very few fruit and vegetable stalls in the market, but flower sales are very popular (these bouquets were only $20!).
It was so nice to walk through the market without all the crowds. But I discovered that most of the people were down at the original Starbucks getting coffee. I can't believe they were all standing out in the rain in the switchback queues waiting to get into the shop. There are other Starbucks and independent coffee shops on every street corner in Seattle. Maybe Starbucks should start selling Lightening passes like they do at Disneyland, so people can skip to the front of the line.
I took the new pedestrian walkway down to the waterfront. It's very impressive and even a year later is still very clean.
The designers incorporated a lot of seating and entertainment features into the walkway like this set of slides you can take to cut off the corner. If it wouldn't have been wet from the rain, I might have slid down one myself.
My last goal before I went to the airport was to find a quiet place to sit when the tourist traffic gets too intense and I found this pretty little covered waterfall garden just a couple blocks from my hotel. There were only a couple other people there both peacefully working on their laptops. I pulled out my paints for one last quick sketch. But wouldn't you know it... 4 visitors from Italy wandered in totally lost, but still blocking my view as they pulled out their phones for selfies. Oh well, I guess if I want true peace and quiet, I need to go someplace remote like Antarctica.
